Erstellt am: 4. 2. 2016 - 13:53 Uhr

Seehofer: Loosen sanctions "in a foreseeable period of time"

Reality Check: EU-Russian relations; Julian Assange; EU-Turkey; Syria donor conference; predicting volcanoes

EU / Russia

AFP PHOTO / SPUTNIK / ALEXEI NIKOLSKY

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with Bavarian premier Horst Seehofer.

This week alone Austrian vice-chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner and Bavaria’s powerful CSU boss, Horst Seehofer have both been in Moscow and have both been critical of the EU sanctions imposed after the Russian annexation of Crimea. We speak to political scientist Johannes Pollak from Vienna’s Webster University to find out what these developments mean.

EU billions for Turkey / Syria donor Conference

The European Union has finally approved a 3 billion Euro fund to help Turkey deal with the more than 2 million refugees from the civil war in Syria. The fund had been originally approved back in November. Meanwhile, in London Leaders and diplomats from 70 countries are meeting today to pledge billions of dollars to help the millions of people displaced by the war in Syria. Dr. Andreas Schloenhardt specializes in migration and refugee issues and he explains why it’s taken so long for EU leaders to give their final approval and what exactly all this money will be used for.

Julian Assange

AFP / CARL COURT

The waiting may soon be over for Julian Assange.

The BBC is reporting that Julian Assange thinks his self-imposed imprisonment in the Ecuadorian embassy in London could come to an end as soon as tomorrow. Our London correspondent Catherine Drew has the details.

Predicting volcanoes

We’ve become pretty good at predicting the weather but when it comes to predicting earthquakes or volcanoes, things get a little bit more difficult. In today’s Reality Check Professor David Pyle from the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford, brings us up to date on a promising, new method for predicting volcanic eruptions.

FM4 Reality Check

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